The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, revealing a significant decline in performance.
Only 38.32% of the 1,969,313 candidates who sat for the examination across 23,554 schools in Nigeria achieved credits or above in a minimum of five subjects, including the mandatory English Language and Mathematics, a critical requirement for university admissions across West Africa.
Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut, Head of WAEC’s Nigeria National Office, announced the results at a press briefing on Monday at the council’s headquarters in Yaba, Lagos.
He disclosed that 754,545 candidates—comprising 347,192 males (46.01%) and 407,353 females (53.99%)—met the benchmark of five credits, including English and Mathematics.
This marks a stark 33.8% decrease in performance compared to the 2024 WASSCE, where approximately 76.36% of candidates achieved the same standard.
Dangut attributed the drop to WAEC’s new approach of serializing objective test papers in key subjects like English, Mathematics, Biology, and Economics to curb examination malpractice. “This measure significantly reduced collusion, making it harder for candidates to cheat.
While essay papers maintained consistent performance, the objective sections saw a notable dip, signaling that candidates must rely on thorough preparation,” he explained.
The examination, conducted between April 24 and June 20, 2025, with coordination and marking from July 3 to 21, also utilized a real-time digital scoring system to enhance result processing accuracy.
